Miss World 2006 pageant set to be global TV spectacle

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Warsaw (dpa) - Two billion people in 200 countries across the globe are expected to tune-in Sunday for the 56th Miss World beauty pageant grand finale in Warsaw, Poland.

Viewers will also be able to crown one of the 104 national beauty queen finalists Miss World 2006 using a special short message service (SMS) system.

Beamed around the globe, the event is one of the world's most popular live annual TV events, rivalling both the football World Cup finals and the Olympics, according to Miss World contest organizers.

Australia's multi-cultural 20-year-old Sabrina Houssami and Lebanon's Annabella Hilal, also 20, have been singled out by the Polish media as favourites to inherit the Miss World crown from Iceland's Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir who won the title in 2005.

Hoping the high-profile pageant will boost its international profile and stimulate much-needed job-growth, Poland welcomed the pageant, annually held in Sanya, China, since 2003.

The ghost of communism will hang heavy over the September 30 Miss World grand finale in Warsaw. The pageant will be held in the city's land-mark Stalinist-era Palace of Culture and Science, perhaps Poland's best-known relict of the pre-1989 communist era.

An unwelcome gift for the Polish people from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, the building resembles a gaudy totalitarian-style wedding-cake.

Beauty queens from across the globe spent the month of September touring several Polish cities and popular tourist attractions.

Stops included the Baltic Sea port cities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot, the Teutonic Knight Castle in Malbork, the Mazurian Lake district, Krakow and the nearby historic Wieliczka salt mine museum as well as Wroclaw and the capital Warsaw.

Miss Venezuela, Alexandra Federica Guzman Diamate, won the swimsuit competition held at the swish Baltic Sea Sopot beach.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Catherine Jean Milligan, Miss Northern Ireland, won talent award for her rendition of a traditional Irish song "She Moves Through the Fair" in the opulent 19th Century baroque Opera House in Wroclaw, south-west Poland.

Miss Canada, 24-year-old Malgorzata Majewska raced first to the finish to win the sports cycling competition. Miss Puerto Rico, 23- year-old Thebyam Carrion Alvarez, won the long jump event and Miss Latvia, 24, Liga Meinarte, took top spot in the 100 metre sprint.

Viewers around the globe will be the final judges Sunday. Anyone with a mobile telephone or access to short message service (SMS) will be able to choose the new Miss World 2006 via a special SMS system set up by pageant organizers.

For more information click: http://www.missworld.tv/